Board of Advisors

Arjun Malhotra

Arjun Malhotra

Advisor

An innovator of the Indian IT industry, Arjun has over 42 years of experience with both private and public companies in the Technology and IT space. Arjun started his career as a Senior Management Trainee at DCM Data Products in Delhi, India, and a key member in the pioneering of the digital electronics business in India.

Most recently, he led the turnaround and rejuvenation of Headstrong as Chairman and CEO. Under his leadership, Headstrong became the leader in consulting to the financial markets and was sold in 2011 to Genpact for over $500 million. Before Headstrong, Arjun served 23 years as Co-founder and Vice Chairman of the HCL Group, where he oversaw the company’s operations and new initiatives. He and the founding team grew HCL from a six-person “garage operation” to one of India’s largest Information Technology corporations. The company currently has over 90,000 employees and a market cap of over $8 billion.

Arjun graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, where he received a Bachelor of Technology (Honors) in Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering, the Dr. B. C. Roy Gold Medal, and a Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa).

John Polizzi

John Polizzi

Advisor

John has extensive experience in all areas of the Business Technology field with a primary focus in Retail and Distribution. He has held senior leadership roles with both global and domestic responsibilities in various Retail segments including Mass Merchant, Supermarket, Drug Store, Fast Food, and Specialty Retail.

Most recently, John served as Senior Vice President (SVP) and CIO for PC Connection, Inc., a multi-billion-dollar technology reseller. Previously, he served for over four years as the SVP and CIO of BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc, a retailer with 190 locations between Maine and Florida and revenues of over $10 billion. Other IT positions that John has held include SVP/Global CIO for Blockbuster, Inc., SVP/CIO for Caldor, and Vice President of IT for Burger King-North America.

John received a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and MBA training from the University of Tampa. His professional affiliations have included Society for Information Management (SIM), Co-chair of Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), SIM CIO Advisory Board, member of the NRF CIO Council, Co-chair of the Boston CIO Summit, and other trade organizations.

Rahul Sachdev

Rahul Sachdev

Advisor

Rahul, CEO of Get Satisfaction, is a technology executive with over 20 years of product management and marketing experience in Enterprise Software and Consumer Internet. Most recently, Rahul served as the head of content sharing & workplace engagement products at LinkedIn and was responsible for increasing member engagement and insights. Prior to LinkedIn, he served as Vice President of Marketing & Business Development at Intelliden, an innovative network automation software start-up acquired by IBM, and as General Manager of the Communications, Media, & Energy vertical at Siebel Systems, where his leadership helped create the largest industry product line with roughly $500M in annual revenue and over 400 global customers. Rahul also helped to launch Siebel Universal Application Network (UAN), a new product line for standards-based integration of Siebel CRM with third party applications.

Rahul graduated from the University of Chicago’s Booth of School of Business with an MBA in Marketing & Finance and from Loughborough University in the U.K. with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical & Electronic Engineering.

When he’s not working, Rahul enjoys pondering about how the world works, visiting the less traveled corners of the world, and spending time with his family.